Detroit, San Francisco housing a big hit these days

The Detroit Tigers take on the San Francisco Giants in first game of the World Series. Detroit has the auto industry, San Fran has the tech sector, but recently both cities have scored solid gains in their housing markets.

The last time the Detroit Tigers won the World Series was 19-84. Eric Rayford is a Detroit native, and looks forward to tonight's game. “It would be great to see them finish up and close it out here in Detroit so we can really celebrate.”

His new condo is less than three blocks from where the Tigers play, and Rayford says, “Just the energy of having the people downtown…that’s a positive.”

Rayford’s two-bedroom two-thousand square foot condo cost him just under $140,000. His realtor is Joy Santiago. She says for the money, you couldn’t get anything close to this in San Francisco. “For what he paid for the property," Santiago says, "it is a fantastic value. San Francisco would probably be ten-times that.”

Santiago notes that “move-in ready” condos are selling much faster these days. It used to take six-months or more, but now they're selling in only about a month. Santiago knows Detroit is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, is teetering on a state financial takeover, and weighing a further reduction in city services. And she says buyers are not scared off by Detroit's current financial problems. “They’re not afraid to buy real estate because of it. They see the upswing.”

As for that upswing, Tigers fan Erik Rayford hopes an exciting championship season will echo long after the cheers die. Rayford says, “Hopefully those things keep going to make my life more interesting and spur on more people to cheer on the sports. One of the reasons why I choose to stay in Detroit is access to the big four sporting events.” Detroit, after all, is also home to the Lions, Pistons, and Red Wings.